PAUL SEATON SAID:
Hi David,
First I should say that I am grateful you have turned to an examination of the evidence, something which usually turns out to be educational for all concerned - & I don't exclude myself.
Now, Humes' statement to the ARRB (which you quote [here]) was made in 1996, 33 years after the event. Were it the only evidence on the matter, I suppose it would have to stand as the best evidence, but fortunately it isn't.
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
The testimonial record of virtually everyone concerning some of the details of President Kennedy's autopsy and the exact locations of JFK's head wounds is, without doubt, a convoluted and (many times) totally contradictory record of official testimony (as well as private statements, like those given by John Stringer to official sources vs. Stringer's completely contradictory remarks that he made to Vincent Bugliosi in September 2000), as we can see HERE.
It's very difficult to know who's got things precisely accurate. Each person in question probably has some stuff right, but also has some things wrong too.
Human nature and multiple decades of elapsed time since the event took place would tend to support the logical view that virtually everyone will make some errors when talking about something that occurred that long ago, even a President's autopsy, which one would think would have been seared into each man's memory forever--every last detail--even several decades later. But apparently that's not the case....not by a longshot.
But, as quoted previously, I did find a reference to some "bone" (i.e., skull) of JFK's head having been "cut" (per Dr. Humes in 1996) prior to the removal of the President's brain. And that was the meat and potatoes of this question asked of me by Mr. Paul Seaton on May 11th:
"How do you think they did it [removed JFK's brain at autopsy], David? And further WHY do you think they did it, David, given that they had a saw handy?" -- Paul Seaton; 05/11/09
Here's the "Humes Instant Replay", which, whether anyone likes it or not (and whether anyone chooses to believe it or not), IS a part of the official deposition given by Dr. James J. Humes to the Assassination Records Review Board in February of 1996:
"WE HAD TO CUT SOME BONE AS WELL." -- JAMES HUMES; 2/13/96
But.....
With respect to the main and (by far) most important conclusions reached by the three autopsy doctors concerning President John F. Kennedy's autopsy, the following conclusions are things that all three of those doctors have always agreed on (from Day 1 in 1963), and those conclusions are these:
"It is our opinion that the deceased [John F. Kennedy] died as a result of two perforating gunshot wounds inflicted by high velocity projectiles fired by a person or persons unknown. The projectiles were fired from a point behind and somewhat above the level of the deceased." -- Via JFK's Official 1963 Autopsy Report, Signed by Drs. Humes, Boswell, and Finck [Warren Report; Page 543]
David Von Pein
May 12, 2009
